The 29-year-old won three golds in Beijing, and now is just one gold away from winning his ninth in Rio.
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Bolt’s “triple-triple” comes by way of winning the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles at three consecutive Olympic Games. One year before millions watched him secure a record third 100 metre gold medal at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Bolt lined up at a very different track in Rio.
Carter ran the leadoff leg for Jamaica’s 4x100m team when Bolt anchored them to a gold medal at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium, where Bolt took the sport by storm with his first treble.
The team of Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Tori Bowie finished first to win the gold medal, followed by Jamaica and Great Britain. As a result, Canada was elevated to the bronze-medal position.
Rio de Janeiro: Usain Bolt insisted it was “mission accomplished” after signing off with a “triple-triple” in his final Olympic race at the 2016 Rio Games, predicting that his achievements may never be broken. And although the US finished the race third, they faced yet another relay debacle disqualified as lead runner Mike Rodgers passed the baton to Justin Gatlin outside the exchange zone.
On the Japanese that placed second in the 4×100 metres, he said: “From Aug. 18, I saw them in the heats and I could tell they will be a team to be reckoned with”.
Now Bolt has ended his historic career in Rio as the second most successful Olympian of all time – with only American swimmer Michael Phelps ahead of him. I’m just proud of myself that I executed and got it done.
He intends to retire after the 2017 World Championships in London and will not compete at Tokyo 2020, at which point he will be almost 34.
Bolt’s joy was in stark contrast to the United States, who had just about completed their lap of honour after coming home third when they looked up at the scoreboard and discovered they had been disqualified.
“They all mean the world to me”, he said. I have worked hard in every Olympics. “At 35 I’m going to be even faster”.
On what it will be like returning to Jamaican capital Kingston: “I’m sure I will get a lot of love and so will these guys”.
“It’s just have mixed feelings now, but it’s been a great career”.
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After the win, the 29-year-old said: “There you go, I am the greatest”. I think he’s just looking for attention, because nobody really talks about him. It’s come true. The pressure is real.
